War and the News

Jerry Johnson

War and the News

We abhor war. Our people are peace loving people. However, in their concern for national (or world-wide) security, the men who lead our government may involve our armed forces in the brutal conflicts of carnal warfare. Christians are no part of any such. Christians should understand that government operates in its own arena, and far far from the realm in which we function, the Christian work of the church. We are very aware that "the sword" of Romans 13:1-2 is a symbol of authority and the execution of civil justice. The use of it is in the proscribed jurisdiction of civil power. But our objection is not to the functioning of government, we object that Christians have no part in participating in such. The following news items illustrate, in part, this objection. Any emphasis is mine (jj).

"The allies are loath to criticize their U.S. colleagues openly, but a British officer told Britain’s Daily Mail, ‘The Americans…are good at tank battles, but they’re trying to fight one kind of war while the Iraqis are fighting another. That is what’s hurting them.’ He said U.S. generals are starting to look at the British forces ‘and ask themselves some hard questions.’ ‘Quite frankly, the average British infantryman is far better. They’re a tribe of feral (fierce, vicious, jj) monsters, but they’re highly disciplined monsters. You don’t want to get in their way,’ he said." –Washington Times, 4/3/03

"The Battle of the Najaf Agricultural Institute has taken a horrifying turn. The institute, a large educational complex on this city’s southwest edge, is near what has become known as Checkpoint Charlie. Every night, Iraqi fighters sacrifice a man to get a fix on the U.S. Army position so they can strike with rockets or mortar shells. The men of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division, believe it is some hapless innocent who is being forced to his death. They see each victim walking toward their lines in the darkness, looking back over his shoulder at the Iraqis. ‘He’s probably just a Bedouin that they grab,’ 1st Sgt. Jeffery Smith, 39, of Worthington, W.Va., said Wednesday. ‘And, of course, we’ve got to terminate the poor guy,’ he said." –USA Today, 4/3/03

"To the west, thousands of Army vehicles were crossing the Euphrates and moving toward Baghdad after an unsuccessful attempt by Iraqi forces to defend a bridge at Musayyib. Scores of blown-up Iraqi vehicles and dozens of bodies lined the roads as the U.S. troops passed by." –Austin American Statesman, 4/3/03

"In a tent in the Kuwaiti desert, Stainbrook teaches a refresher course in the dos and don’ts of modern warfare. With just days or weeks until the play-acting could play out for real, he runs through the possibilities with 100 teenage and twenty-something warriors at a time, throwing out scenarios and testing their reactions. Parris Island–the Marine Corps training base in South Carolina–may have taught them to be killers, but it falls to civil affairs officers like Stainbrook to teach them when they should not be. It is a delicate balance…"